Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1887-03-25

PORT TOBACCO:
Friday Morning. March Is, 1887
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Township System and Public Roads.
We reprint elsewhere the editorial COM
ments of our Prince Georges contempor-
ary, the Laurel Free Quill, upon the re-
cent article of the TINES regarding the
township system as applied to Maryland.
We do this in order to give. both sides a
hearing and for the purpose of more in
telligibly replying to some OF the points
raised by our contemporary.
Our contemporary is right in saying
that the objections of the TIMES are made
from Maryland standpoint; but it is not
accurate when 1t says elsewhere that the
gist of our argument rests upon the single
fact that the population of Southern Mary
land alone is too sparse and widely sep
arted to admit Of any further subdivision
OF the local communities to advantage
Our friend will find upon comparison OF
the area Of the several counties of this
State with their respective population, ,and
similar comparison of these same condi
tions in the New England States and New
York, that there is such a difference in
these essential particulars between the two
sections as to warrant some dissimiarity
in the ferns of local government. We
applied our remarks more particularly to
Southern Maryland, but argued from the
standpoint of the State at large.
The township organization, in anything
but densely populated country, would
prove to be very cumbersome and ex-
pensive affair. Let US take that system as
it exists in its purity in New England
and see how it would tit here. In this
county, with It's area Of 500 square miles,
we would have, taking the New England
average of "a square miles, Is townships.
This would require officers as follows:-
135 selectmen; As assessors, and perhaps
some assistant assessors; 45 overseers of
the poor; As members of school commit
tees; 60 road supervisors; Is collectors of
taxes; Is town clerks; Is town treasurers.
in addition to the present Number of our
county officers. This would involve an
increase of 375 or more office holders in
population of little over 3 500 voters; an
addition of 375 or more tax eaters in a
community of about 1000 tax payers.
This complicated system would undoubt-
edly be more expensive in its execution,
and it would be difficult in this section to
find enough competent men to play the
roe of functionaries without functions.-
Good farmers are always busy with their
own concerns and these little quasi public
duties thus put upon them, If discharged
at all, would only operate as distractions
and serve to encourage idleness. Sparse
ly settled States like Maryland, where the
average area of farms is above 100 acres
and the people do not live in villages, is
not adapted to this complicated system OF
local government; hence it is observed
that in nearly all the Western States, not
Withs.anding the fact that the 'couhties
are subdivided by the government surveys
into well defined townships, the township
system of local government has not been
adopted; but the county continues to be
the unit of local government. 1t is to be
further observed that the fact that the
Eastern township system of local govern
ment has been ignored in the West has not
operated at all to retard the immigration
of Eastern and Northern farmers into those
States.
The only evil in our local government
in Maryland FOR which the township sys-
tenn is invoked as remedy, even by our
friend of the Free Quill, is the present de-
tective public road service. In an article
in last weeks TIMES we showed that the
excellent and effective public road service
of the State of Ohio is not essentially con-
nected with the township system, and we
believe our friend will find upon exami-
nation that it does not enter materially
into the regulation of that service in New
York, which it adopts as its model The
State government takes hold of the matter
and provides special tax for this service
in every county. All that the townships
have to do with it is to elect road super
visors for the several districts and these
are under the general superintendent of
the county authorities.
Here lies the chief defect in our public
road service in Maryland. The State re-
lega,es the whole matter TO the several
counties. The result is diversity of sys-
TENS. varying in quality from medium to
very bad and different in form and plan
of operation in almost every county. 1t
is true each county is fully authorized to
levy all taxes which in the judgment OF
the county commissioners is necessary for
the purpose and by the act OF 1874 they
are authorized also to appoint skilled
engineer to be superintendent of the road
service for the county. Blu. the county
commissioners, in their efforts to keep
down taxes, have for the most part taken
hold of this matter timidly and in half
way fashion and none of the local systems
have shown good results.
What is wanted is for the State gouern-
xaent to take hold of it as it has done in
Ohio, New York and many other States
and provide special tax for this purpose
in all the counties to be levied per capita
and to formulate road system for all the
counties. As model for that system we
refer our contemporary to chapter 452 of
the acts of 1868, which was local system